


do not forget (that love is the least of these)

by hotrodngold (Krystalicekitsu)



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Community: hc_bingo, Confessions, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Requited Love, Schmoop, Unrequited Love, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-08
Updated: 2012-01-08
Packaged: 2017-10-29 04:37:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/315902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krystalicekitsu/pseuds/hotrodngold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's something Steve tries hard not to think about, this not-thing with his partner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	do not forget (that love is the least of these)

**Author's Note:**

> Slight spoilers for 2.10 Also fills the 'build-up of job-related trauma' square on my hc_bingo card.

It's something Steve tries hard not to think about, this not-thing with his partner.

He never actually succeeds much, unless someone is dying (and then it's mostly _oh god, oh god, don't let him die, he can't die, I lov-_ and then he's right back where he started again). Proportionally, they both incur grievous bodily harm about the same, and Steve would feel worse about that, except Danny isn't hurt _more_ than he is, which kinda makes everything better. Except it doesn't, because Danny has Grace and Steve would never, _ever_ forgive himself if he took Grace's father from her.

He wouldn't wish that on anyone. Least of all his partner's daughter.

But he keeps trying not to think about it, and he knows he sort of fails (a lot. A whole heaping lot) because Danny will be going on one of his tangents ( _Steven_ , we _do not_ put grenades in the glove box of a car _my daughter_ will be riding in) and it's all he can do to mouth off when his partner notices _inevitably_ , his grin. And it's all he can do to keep mouthing off, because he doesn't think Danny would hate him for this, this kinda unfortunate, very inopportune, completely unadvised attraction, but Danny had Rachel, and Danny _has_ Grace, and he's pretty sure Danny isn't flexible _in that way_ \- and that's ok.

He's fine with that.

No, really, he is, because this isn't the first time Steve's had feelings that went unreturned, and certainly won't be the last time, so really, everything's maika'i. He's even managed to get in some practice, standing in front of the mirror, feeling like an idiot. But he knows now that he can stand before Danny and whatever girl he decides to settle down with and smile and have it reach his eyes. Can stand there and clasp a hand on Danny's shoulder (unless, would that be too close? Too forward?) and say 'E pili mau nā pōmaika'i me 'oe' and do it with that same smile. He can do it, and no one will be able to see the broken glass he's swallowing, and the acid eating at his ribs.

He's gotten a lot of practice at that.

So, the last thing he expects (as in 'ever') is to wake up in the middle of the night, stomach still tender from burns and bruises, his shoulders an uncomfortable knot of heat and irritation, to find Danny standing over him with a devastated look on his face.

The last thing he expects is Danny to sink to his knees, bury his face and his hands in Steve's bed and start talking. The _very_ last thing he expects is Danny to spill his own fears into the humid, moon-lit air, only Danny's talking about _him_ , about never finding Steve, or finding him too late.

About finding Jenna and then, in that moment, being so frighteningly _afraid_ that the next room would contain Steve, only a Steve with sightless, staring eyes and two rounds through his chest, cool and cold and still and yet, even _then_ , glad that Jenna was Jenna, and not Steve. About flying on a chopper with their ohana and SEAL Team 9 and being paralyzed by a fear that stopped him from saying more than two words, even as it drove his feet and his body and his mind forward. About the ambush they sprung on Wo Fat's little caravan, about being afraid to fire and hit Steve, about _not_ firing and letting one of those bastards get away to put one in Steve.

Danny stays on his knees and tells Steve he loves him, but he doesn't care if he's loved in return, because that's not what this was about. That this was only Danny clearing this off his chest, about making sure that he got the chance to say the words he'd been eating for two years, because those kinds of regrets could eat you alive. That this wouldn't change anything, not one damn thing, and Danny wouldn't act any differently and could they just ignore it all- and then Danny's getting up and heading away from the bed, towards the door and Steve reaches out in panic, stunned, latching onto Danny's wrist.

"Don't go," he says.

"I love you," he says.

"Stay," he says.

And Danny smiles.


End file.
